Hose-retrieving device



Mar. 27, 1923 D. B. KENNEY HOSE RETRIEVING DEVICE Filed Mar. 24, 1922 2sheets-sheet 1 Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

" DANIEL B. KENNEY, OF HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

HOSE-RETRIEVING DEVICE.

Application filed March 24., 1922.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL B. KENNEY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Huntington, in the county ofCabell and State of W est Virginia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Hose Retrieving Devices, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to a device for use in dispensing air orany other similar fluid medium, and has for its primary object toprovide a device of this character which embodies novel features ofconstruction, whereby the dispensing pipe is automatically held in anout of the way position when not in use, although it is convenientlyaccessible at all times and can be readily drawn into operative positionwhen it is desired to dispense the compressed air.

At the present time it is customary for all gasoline supply stations andother public stations of a similar character to provide free air for theuse of their patrons in inflating tires. The compressed air isordinarily distributed through a flexible tube or pipe which is draggedfrom place to place as it is needed, and which is usually dropped byeach patron when he has finished inflating his tires, without anythought of coiling it up or putting it back in any particular place. Theflexible tube used in this manner is frequently stretched across apavement or street, so that it is a menace to pedestrians who are liableto be tripped thereby, and in being pulled or dragged over the ground itbecomes covered with grease and dirt, so that it is disagreeable to.handle and may even carry dangerous disease germs. Furthermore, a tubewhich is handled in this manner becomes rapidly worn from being draggedover the ground, and has a comparatively short life.

The foregoing objections are overcome by the present invention whichprovides means for automatically retracting the flexible dispensing tubeand holding it in an out of the way position as soon as it is released.However, the flexible dispensing tube is always in such a position thatit can be conveniently grasped and used for any purpose such inflating atire within a certain radius around the dispensing stand.

Vith the above and other objects in view the invention consists incertain combinations, arrangements and associations of the parts as willmore fully appear as the de Serial No. 546,529.

scription proceeds, thenovel features thereof being pointed out in theappended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a compressed air dispensing stand, whichis constructed in accordance with the invention, the dispensing tubebeing illustrated by full lines in inoperative position and by dottedlines in operative position.

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the head whichhas a swiveled connection with the upper end of the stand ard.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on the line 38 ofFigure 2.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Figure2 looking upwardly.

Figure 5 is a detail view of the pivotally mounted coupling member.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated on all of the views of the drawings by likereference characters.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate one of many possibleembodiments of the invention, the numeral 1 designates a pedestal whichis mounted in some convenient relation to a tank or other source ofcompressed air supply. The pedestal is illustrated as being provided atits upper end with a casing 2 which is provided with a lower dial 3 andan upper pressure gauge 4. These members are associated with a specialform of valve such as that disclosed fully in my eo pending applicationfor a fluid pressure control device and automatic cut off, Serial No.538,112, filed Feb. 20, 1922. This construction, as is fully set forthin the said co-pending application enables a tire to be accuratelyinflated to any predetermined degree of pressure without danger ofeither over or under inflation. The pointer which is mounted to playover the dial 3 is rotated manually until the end thereof points to thegraduation of the dial which corresponds to the degree of pressure withwhich it is desired to inflate the tire. The pressure gauge 4: acts as acheck upon the pressure control device and is in communication with thepipe leading to the tire so that it registers the building up of thepressure within the tire until the final degree of pressure is reached,at which time the automatic valve mechanism which is controlled by thepositioning of the pointer 5 acts to'out oif the air supply. Thisconstruction is fully set forth and claimed in my copending applicationand no claims based thereon are made in this application.

A tubular standard 6 extends upwardly from the top of the casing 2 and ahead 7 is swiveled thereon, said head being hollow and being provided atits base with a depending neck 8 which fits around the upper end of thehead. Pins or screws 9 which are carried by the depending neck 8 areadapted to have the ends thereof brought into engagement with a groove10 at the top of the casing 6. The head 7 is thereby securely fastenedto the standard, although it is free to rotate thereon. It may also benoted that the base of the head 7 is provided with a shoulder 11 whichrests upon the top of the standard, and assists in supporting the headthereon.

One side of the head or housing 7 is extended laterally and providedwith a lateral opening 12. Extending through this lat eral opening is asubstantially Z shaped fitting 13, said fitting being provided at anintermediate point in its length with a transversely disposed hubportion 14 by means of which it is pivotally mounted within the head insuch a manner as to swing freely about a horizontal axis. In the presentinstance the ends of the hub portion 14 are shown as recessed to receivethe extremities of ins 15 which are fitted in. the sides of the head andextend through the walls thereof on opposite sides of the opening 12.

The inner end of the fitting 13 is shown as provided with a nipple 16 bymeans of i which it is secured to the upper end of a length of flexibletubing 17 which extends downwardly through the interior of the tubularstandard 6 and is suitably connected to a pipe leading from the sourceof compressed air supply. This inner end of the fitting 13 is alsoprovided with a wing or extension 18 which is connected to the upper endof a tension spring 19, said spring extending downwardly through thetubular standard 1, and being, secured to some fixed support, such asthe inwardly projecting lug 20. The outer end of the fitting 13 isconnected to a pipe 21 which normally extends upwardly, having a hookedend 22 which is connected to the flexible dispensing tube 23. The lengthof the flexible tube 23 is just slightly less than the combined lengthsof the pedestal 1, standard 6, and pipe 21. When the pipe 21 is in anupright position, as indicated by full lines on Figure 1, the flexibletube 23 will hang in a substantially vertical position at one side ofthe pedestal.

The free end of the flexible dispensing tube 23 is provided with aconventional tire valve engaging member 24, and when it is desired toinflate a tire or other article, the operatorgrasps the flexible tube 23and fitting 24 and forcibly pulls the same into a position where thefitting 24 can be applied to the tire valve casing. This will result inswinging the pipe 21 outwardly and downwardly, as indicated by dottedlines on Figure 1, the said pipe swinging about the hub portion 14 ofthe Z shaped fitting 13 as an axis. This results in placing the spring19 under tension, so that as soon as the dispensing tube 23 is releasedthe pipe 21 will again swing into an upright position, therebyretracting and lifting the flexible tube 23 into an out of the wayposition. The flexible tube 23 may be drawn out for use within areasonable distance from the pedestal 1, and the swivel connectionbetween the head 7 and the standard 6 enables it to rotate about avertical axis so that the dispensing tube 23 can be used at any pointwithin a certain radius around the base of the standard. However, assoon as the dispensing tube is released it is instantly retracted andlifted into an elevated position so that it is not permitted to bedragged 'over the ground and left in dangerous positions when not inuse. In fact, the flexible tube is normally lifted above the ground atall times so that it is prevented from be-' coming covered with greaseand dirt and is also protected against the wear which is alwaysoccasioned by the dragging of these tubes over the ground or pavement.

lVhile one particular embodiment of the invention has been illustratedand described in detail for the purpose of making the idea of theinvention clear, it will be understood that many modifications andchanges can be made in the details of construction without departingfrom the spirit of the invention,

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is, I

1. A hose retrieving device including a tubular standard, a headrotatably mounted thereon, upon the head, a laterally projecting at thepivot end of the arm, a spring engaging the fitting and normally tendingto swing the arm into an upright position, a flexible supply pipeextending through the tubular standard, and connected to the fitting,said fitting being formed to establish communication between the supplypipe and arm and a dispensing hose connected to the swinging end of thetubular arm and arranged to be retrieved thereby.

2. A hose retrieving device including a tubular standard, a headrotatably mounted thereon, a tubular arm pivotally mounted upon thehead, a laterally projecting fitting at the pivot end of the tubulararm, and having opposing trunnions journaled in the a tubular armpivotally mounted fitting head to permit movement of the arm in avertical plane, said fitting extending over the tubular standard andthrough one side of the head, a spring extending through the tubularstandard and connected to the it ting for normally tending to swing thetubular arm into an upright position, a flexible supply pipe extendingthrough the standard and connected to the fitting, and a dispensing hoseconnected to the swinging end of the arm and arranged to be retrievedthereby when not in use.

3. A hose retrieving device including a Z shaped fitting pivotallymounted upon the support and having an air passage there through, atubular arm connected to one end of the fitting, a flexible supply pipeconnected to the other end of the fitting for delivering air through thefitting to the arm, yielding means normally tending to swing the arminto a predetermined position, and a dispensing hose connected to theswinging end of the tubular arm and ar ranged to be retrieved by theswinging arm when not in use.

4. A hose retrieving device including a support, a Z fitting pivotallymounted thereon having an air passage therethrough, a tubular armconnected to one end of the Z fitting, a flexible supply-pipe connectedto the other arm of the Z fitting to pass air through the fitting to thearm, a spring eng gaging'the Z fitting and normally tending to swing thesame to bring the tubular arm into a predetermined position and adispensing hose connected to the swinging end of the tubular arm andarranged to be retrieved thereby when not in use.

5. A hose retrieving device including a tubular standard having anannular groove at the top thereof, a hollow head rotatably mountedthereon, means on said head engaging in the groove to prevent accidentaldisplacement while allowing for rotative movement, a Z fitting pivotallymounted upon the head with one arm thereof projecting over the tubularstandard, said fitting having an air passage therethrough, a flexiblesupply pipe extending through the tubular standard and connected to thesaid arm, a spring also extending through the tubular standard andconnected to the said arm, a tubular arm connected to the other arm ofthe Z fitting to receive the air from the supply pipe through thefitting, and normally held yieldably in an upright position by theaction of the spring, and a dispensing hose connected to the swingingend of the tubular arm and arranged to be retrieved by the arm when notin use.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

DANIEL B. KENNEY.

